‘My brother said he would find me and kill me’

Share via

When Aisha refused to marry the man that her family had chosen, they emotionally blackmailed her. When she refused a second time, they broke her nose. “I fell down the stairs,” she told hospital staff, more than once.

At first, the family pretended they were going on holiday to visit relatives in Mirpur, Kashmir, where many British-Pakistani families have roots. Eventually, they stopped trying to trick her. “There was no point; it was so obvious. Mum said, ‘You are going to Pakistan and you are going to get married to this guy. End of. Be ready.’ ” She had met the